An illegal driver has been jailed for eight months for mowing down a schoolboy, leaving him to die.

Failed asylum-seeker Kamel Kadri, 38, was sentenced to another 16 months in prison for using a fake passport to stay in Britain.

He will spend a total of two years behind bars before being deported from the UK.

Callum 'CJ' Oakford, nine, died after he was knocked down by Kadri's Renault 5 on the A259 in Ferring, near Worthing, on New Year's Day.

Kadri abandoned the car, registered under the false name Mr Dodo, and was only tracked down after a huge police search and appeals through The Argus.

He initially denied being the driver, only confessing after three police interviews.

Sentencing Kadri at Chichester Crown Court, Judge Anthony Thorpe said: "Courts have a special duty to protect the public, particularly from unlicensed and uninsured irresponsible drivers, and there is no greater example of irresponsibility than that of failing to stop when you have hit a child."

Kadri, from Algeria, pleaded guilty to failing to report the accident and failing to stop.

The maximum prison sentence for each is six months. No extra penalty was imposed for driving without a licence or insurance.

Judge Thorpe said he had given Kadri credit for pleading guilty to these offences and a further offence of possessing of a false passport.

He said: "I trust you will be removed from this country as soon as you are released."

Judge Thorpe, in the guarded language of the court, expressed anger that his hands had been tied to pass such a short sentence.

He said: "I make it clear you have not been sentenced for an offence of causing death by dangerous driving although you were arrested on suspicion of that offence.

"Any queries as to why you were not indicted on that charge should be directed at the Crown Prosecution Service and the police.

"I have no doubt the public will be interested in their responses and I make no comment on their decision to proceed as they have done."

Fun-loving CJ was killed when he stepped into the path of Kadri's Renault on the 50mph-limit A259.

Kadri sped up to 60mph to overtake the car in front, whose driver had spotted three boys - CJ, his elder brother Sam and a friend - on the central reservation and was slowing down.

CJ was hurled into the air and landed in the road. He was taken to hospital by ambulance but all attempts to revive him failed.

Kadri kept on driving. When his Renault was found a mile away in Bruce Avenue, Worthing, it had a huge dent in its bonnet.

Kadri's neighbour Gregory Almond read about CJ's death in The Argus and contacted police. After three police interviews, Kadri admitted he had been behind the wheel.

He said he had driven off because he was in shock and because of his illegal status in England.

Kadri was using a stolen French passport he had doctored to travel to England in 2001, where he got a job at Worthing Hospital.

Phillip Meredith, in mitigation, said Kadri told immigration officers he fled Algeria because a paramilitary group tried to recruit him by force.

Mr Meredith said: "He's an illegal and desperate individual if even half of what he described as the reason he fled Algeria is true. Coming from a civil society, it is impossible to imagine how it could be these people need to flee their own country."

Judge Thorpe told Kadri: "Had you left the country when you should have done you would not have been driving that untaxed, uninsured car that had no current MoT on January 1, 2004, and that young child would still be alive.

"You did not even know how badly that child was injured when you drove off and it is clear you made no effort to slow down or to stop.

"It is also clear you later took steps to abandon the car keys and documentation."

Judge Thorpe said it was "intolerable" that people who should have been removed from the country after failed asylum applications were able to remain and drive unsafe cars.

He said: "I hope and trust the Home Secretary will continue his efforts to make sure people such as you do not overstay here and are promptly removed once the appeal process is completed. If necessary, I am sure that police powers to check on such failed asylum cases will be strengthened but that is a matter for Parliament not the courts."

On the steps of Chichester Crown Court, CJ's sister Kathryn Proudfoot, 22, said: "I'd like to say how furious we are the maximum penalty for failing to stop is just six months.

"It's disgusting. We intend to do something about this. I'm furious. There is no justice. He gets a few months and I lose my brother. He didn't even have a licence to lose."

His mother Lynn, her face drained of emotion, quietly agreed "It's disgusting".

Inspector Natalie Carron, who led the operation to trace the driver who killed CJ, said there was no evidence to suggest Kadri's negligence had caused the crash.

But she believed some tightening of the law may be necessary.

She said: "I think we could do with more forms of legislation that allow us to be more flexible."

She said she could understand the family's frustration, adding: "All we can do is allow them to see the evidence and explain the process of the criminal justice system."

Judge Thorpe awarded Mr Almond £250 for his help during the search for Kadri.